Baggage-check



J. R. LARACY.

BAGGAGE CHECK;

APPLICATION FILED 029.16. 1918.

1,401,338 Patentd Dec. 27, 1921.

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PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN R. LABACY, OF DORGHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

BAGGAGE-CHECK.

Application filed December 16, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN R. LARACY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dorchester, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Baggage-Checks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in baggage checks. More particularly it relates to the construction of claim checks for baggage in such manner as to guard against erroneous delivery resultin from the mismatching of numbers. In 51c bagga e system at present inuniversal use in the States, the claim check is in two arts, one part being attached to the piece 0? baggage 1n the possession of the carrier, and the other being held by the passenger, bearing the same distinguishing number, so that by comparison of the numbers at destination the baggage claim is identified. The numbers necessarlly run to high figures; and at'anybag gage delivering room, especially in large cities where travelers arrive from widely separate parts of the country, the numbers on checks from different points of origin may sometimes run close together. Moreover, the numbers coming from the same source on the same da lie rather close to ether. In either case, t e agents charged with the identification of the checks by comparison of separated ortions make mistakes despite all care, and despite corrections made in many instances on the spot by the person claiming, so that owing to this mismatching, baggage is wrongly delivered. This may ha pen without conscious wrong, as when de ivery is made to a local transportation agency in the absence of the owner. Two parties are thus inconvenienced. Claims against the transportation company usually result. Such claims, while few in roportion to the total number of pieces of 'aggage handled, amount in the aggregate to very considerable sums each year, and constitute what is probably the principal defect in the present system.

It is the object of the present invention to provide means by which such mismatching can be avoided. Further objects of the invention are that such means shall be simple, so as to be workable b all sorts and conditions of men, as foun in the baggage handling service throughout the country; shall be inexpensive, so as not to add materially to Specification of Letters Patent.

nited Patented Dec. 27, 1921.

Serial No. 267,083.

the present cost of checks, which in the very great majority of cases serve perfectly without a mismatch being made; and to do this in such an effective manner that mismatching through the mental error of the baggage man, in concluding that the presented. check has the same number as the check on the piece of baggage, shall be in a practical sense absolutely eliminated. Many efforts have been made in this direction, but all, so far as I am aware, either add seriously to the expense, or to the complication, or both. The error may occur from hasty inattention,

or from mental fatigue. The present inventi'on is calculated to guard against a mismatch resulting from either the condition or the temperament of the agent.

The preferred manner of accomplishing the objects of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but Variation may be made.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a face view of a baggage check embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a view of the two portions of the cheek, matched; and

Fig. 4 is a View of the same, with the test ap lied. I,

l eferring to the drawings, A indicates in diagram the carric1"s or baggage portion and. B the passengers or claim portion of: a com plete baggage check ready to be put into use. It will be observed that in addition to the name and station of the isi-ming carrier,

the route, the destination, and other matter which may be contained therein, the check contains the customary numbers, a, 7), one on each portion, which are identical for each complete check, but which diii'er from the number on each other complete check, and which serve as the usual means oi. detcrmining that these two portions belong to gether when one is presented by the passer ger at destination, or elsewhere along the route. The feature of chief prominence in connection with the invention consists in the provision oi? a test number, n, printed preferably on the carriers portion of the check a llttle distance above the bottom of its back with a line 0 and a space 7' below it. It is a selected number which is very different in appearance, but which, when combined with the number 6 on the passengers portion of the check, by simple addition produces a test total which proves the true identity. This test may be carried out various ways. The method which I at pres ent prefer is illustrated; and the :=.pplieatio oi the test is shown in l, from whi anpe .rs that by the simple process 0* I) L L in he two numbers, the check number Z and he test number 0, over the other, and adding them, a test total d results, from which it is at once that the two compared parts of t belong together because of the rei fact that every figure in the total ih .s duced is a 9. Thus, the check numbers x L be each 6 3 9 5 ,2 8; and the test number 3 6 04 i 1.. Being thus arranged, the test proceeds follows If it happened the a passengers check presented did not acti taly with the check on the piece of baggage, even though the baggage man should read it as tallying, and under the present system would deliver the piece upon the cla m made by the passenger, that fact would be brought out sharply upon the application of the test by turning over the baggage check, placing t ie two portions together, and adding them. Thus it the number on the check presented were 6 3 9 2 5 8, which is an illustration of sort 0i. variation which occasionally eads to a mistaken delivery of baggage, especially by a man who is tired or whose attention is more or less clistracted,the application-to the test number would proceed :tollows:-

I tration, and is, I believe; preferable because it permits the use of all possible numbers. and because the test result 1s most clearly and simply produced thereby, yet other figures may be used as the test number. In

that case, however, the instructions for applying the test cannot be stated quite so simply, for when the digit in the check numher is larger than the key, tor example, the nnmlus;

key of 3 Check number (3 El 5 5 2 l5 'lest number T l) il; S l i Check number 6 8 9 5 i3 8 Test number -0 (S 9 8 8 0 5 Speaking theoretically, it is not at all necessary that the test result be a number Jll which all figures are alike. The test number can be any number, and the test total can be printed or indicated on one part or the other. Hence, even when this total is not self-verifying. it can always be told whether the tOlJlllPl'OdtlCQll by :lt'hlll'lp; the check numl or to the test iu'unber produces the proper total. However, it is preferred for practical reasons to use a test number which giv s a test total that is self-verifying, as for example, one in whi h all ngurcs are the same. And in such a case it is not necessary that the test total, or even the key to it, be printed as at 9 (Fig. Q), for it appears automatically what it is, when attempt is made to add to the test number any check number, correct or erroneous, which is close enough. to the correct check number to be mistaken for it. If correct, the proof will be clear; if incorrect, attention will be directed to the disparity, and the mis-matcl1inn that was imminent will be prevented.

The foregoing may be in addition to \is- 'ual ii uliicatiens already well known, such as letters of the alphabet, or series numbers, or other devites, to distingui: iliereut series of numbers or to distinguish checks emanating from different trallic centers. which may be using simultaneously lllOCltE-i whom numbers run somewhat the same. in case it is preferred not to rely merely on the name of the source for that distinction.

Although herein referred to only as used for baggage, it is obvious that the invention applies to any sort of identification device whose operation depends on the comparison of the two numbers.

I claim as my invention:-

1. Ian identification chock haying; two separable parts marked with identital check one oi said parts being nmrked lilll also with a test number; said test number being such that when added to the check number it makes a predetermined test total.

2. An identification check having two Separable parts marked with identlcal check numbers; one of said parts being marked also with a test number; said test number being such that when added to the check number it makes a self-verifying test total.

3. An identification check havin two separable parts marked with identical check numbers one of said parts being marked also with a test number; said test number bein such that when added to the check num er it makes a test total in which the figures under the columns added are all alike.

4. An identification check having two separable parts marked with identical check numbers; oneof said parts being marked also with a test number; said test number being such that when added to the check number it makes a test total in which all figures are 9s.

5. An identification check having two separable parts marked with identical check numbers; one of said parts being marked also with a test number; said test number bein such that when added to the check num er it makes a predetermined test total; one of the numbers which is to be added being located near the edge of its part of the check; and one of the parts having a space adjacent to its number which is to be added, whereby the two check parts may be positioned, one overlying the other, with their numbers adjacent to each other, and with said ad'acent space in position to receive the total resulting from the addition of the numbers on the two check parts.

Signed at Boston, Massachusetts, this eleventh day of December 1918.

JOHN R. LARAGY. 

